One pill a week of Viagra is not enough for many British men, according
to researchers.

British men, particularly those between the ages of 20 and 44, tend
to have sex more frequently according to a national survey, but the state-funded
National Health Service (NHS) has been recommending one little blue pill
a week for patients suffering from impotence.

"Certainly for the young patients, those in their 40s, once a week wouldn't
be enough," Adrian Cook, a researcher at Imperial College of Science, Technology
and Medicine in London, told Reuters.

"The policy needs to be revisited and the evidence needs to be looked
at more closely," he added.

The government introduced the restriction on Viagra, which is made by
the American drug giant Pfizer Inc, after it was launched in Britain because
it feared costs would soar if it was available on demand.

Pfizer went to court to make the drug more widely available by having
the restriction declared unlawful but was unsuccessful.

Cook and his colleagues, in a letter published in the British Medical
Journal, urged the government to reconsider its policy. They said their
analysis of data from the national sexual survey shows that the prescribing
policy is unjust and is not satisfactory for many men.

"It discriminates in two ways. It identifies certain groups who are
eligible for treatment and that is quite an arbitrary grouping. There is
also the frequency type of rationing and that is not evidence based. It
certainly mitigates against the younger sufferers," Cook said.

The Department of Health said it advises doctors that one treatment
a week will be appropriate for most patients, but doctors can exercise
their own judgement and prescribe more.

"The current system was introduced in 1999 to get a balance between
treating men with impotence and protecting NHS resources to deal with other
priorities including those with cancer, heart disease and mental health
problems," it said in a statement.

An estimated 2.3 million men in Britain suffer from impotence, or erectile
dysfunction, but only about 10 percent receive treatment, according the
Impotence Association.

Patients who do not qualify to receive the drug on the NHS can get it
prescribed through private doctors.

Two other anti-impotence drugs, Eli Lilly & Co's Cialis and Levitra
from Bayer AG and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, have also been launched in Britain.
All the drugs are similarly priced at 19.34 pounds ($30.86) for a pack
of four tablets.